The Cog Metamorphosis
by HungrySam103
Summary: When three normal Toons stumble upon what they think is a normal Cog, they discover a massive secret, one that is the key to the destruction of Toontown - and now it is up to them to stop the Cog's master plan, before Toontown is ripped apart by chaos. Rated T for violence.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **

**This story was originally written out completely on another site under a different username. However, I have decided to rewrite my story in order to improve it and to present it to this community. **

**Enjoy!**

**The Cog Metamorphosis **

**Prologue**

In June, the sun beats down relentlessly on Toontown Central, the Toons who once dressed in multiple layers and sipped mugs of hot chocolate in their homes now wearing t-shirts and shorts, drinking cold drinks outside, laughing and playing with friends, or battling Cogs as they sweated.

Although most of the Toons now enjoying themselves outside in the summer heat were only now beginning their training, some were stronger and more experienced, visiting friends, helping out random Toons or simply enjoying the scenery.

On this particular day – 17th of June, 2012 – there was a small festival inside the playground, celebrating summer. Amongst the huge group of Toons were three friends – a plump, yellow mouse, a navy blue dog, and a light blue cat.

The tallest – the dog – was glaring at the mouse. "All I'm saying is," he growled, "my pie was missing, you were there, and you had crumbs all over you."

The mouse patted his large belly, staring up at the dog towering above him. "Come on, Max, you think I'd do that?" he appealed, in a wounded tone. "You gotta believe me, I don't do it! What do you think, Fish? Do you really think I'd be such a -"

The cat's large green eyes narrowed, and she pounced, interrupting the mouse. He hit the floor and squeaked desperately. Max looked at them and chuckled.

The cat placed a paw on the mouse's face. He struggled but was barely able to move. "My name is _not_ Fish, got it?" she hissed.

"Max, help!" begged the mouse, staring at the dog as he laughed.

He shook his head. "You asked for it, Jake! Get 'im, Fi- I mean, Toon. E. Fish!" cheered Max.

She dug her claws in to his head a little. "I said, got it?!" she hissed again.

"Yeah, I got it, I got it! Owwww!" screeched Jake.

"Good!" Toon. E. Fish mewed, getting off the poor mouse.

Max smiled and shook his head. "Come on, guys. I thought we were gonna help little Toons to get those tasks done? We shouldn't waste time."

Toon. E. Fish hissed. "I don't want to. They're ungrateful when you help 'em. I think we should just holiday here."

"Yeah!" Jake piped up. "We should just go in to an all-you-can-eat buffet. I heard there's a nice place in Loopy Lane."

"Come on," urged Max. "We've gotta finish this task. Hey, there's jellybeans in it."

Jake turned to look at Toon. E. Fish, who was clearly being persuaded. "I could use some extra cash..." she mumbles.

"Aw, come on, it's too much work!" protested Jake.

"It'll only be a few Cogs, maybe a Cog Building if we find one. You can stay behind if you want, but you won't get any of the reward," Max replied.

"I'm not sure. I figured we could just relax... but then again it is fun to destroy Cogs!" Toon. E. Fish muttered to herself. She brightened after a moment.

"Okay," she mewed, smiling – a very rare thing for her to do – and rustled around in her backpack. "Yeah, let's go!"

Jake looked at Toon. E. Fish thoughtfully. He noticed that she never really smiled, never spoke in a cheerful voice, unless she was thinking about or talking about destroying Cogs. Sometimes, when they were battling Cogs, chucking cream pies and squirting water hoses, he would realise that she was grinning, putting all of her energy in to it, loving every second of it. Sometimes, when they were not, when the three of them were sitting on a park bench or in a quiet café, he would see her with her head in her hands, her eyes staring off in to the distance, perhaps through a window or just at a wall, and he would know that she was deep in thought, and he knew that she was daydreaming about destroying more Cogs.

Max nodded, smiling, and started checking his own backpack for gags. "You got gags, Toony?" Max asked, using the agreed on nickname for her – the one which didn't end in a lot of pain for whoever was dumb enough to say it.

"Yeah, have you, Max?" she replied as she slung the backpack back on, looking around once more at the packed neighbourhood. She saw Toons of every size and shape dance, play and laugh. She shook her head – it was noisy and frustrating.

"Yeah, I got gags! You coming, Jake?"

Jake sighed, defeated. He realised he wasn't going to win this argument, and nodded slowly. "On one condition: we grab doughnuts first."

After five doughnuts, twenty Cogs, and a lot of running back and forth between the gag shop and Loopy Lane, Jake was tired and the sun had set over Toontown Central, and the sky had darkened. The three friends only had to help one more Toon destroy a Cog for the reward, but they couldn't find anyone to help. At night, most Toons would go back to their homes and sleep, or play games – but they wouldn't go outside – because at night, the Cogs began to get the advantage. More Cogs flew out in to the streets and attacked the few Toons left outside viciously, with nobody else to help the Toons. Toontown wasn't a safe place at night anymore, and it hadn't been for a few months now. At some point Cogs had started sending in more Cogs at night than day, and they were taking over more and more buildings, and hunting down the Toons who remained outside and saddening them. Still, these streets were safer than any other neighbourhood, and the three had enough gags to defend themselves ably.

They tried to convince Toons that were trudging home to come out and fight Cogs with them, or talk Toons out of getting on buses and going back to the other neighbourhoods so they could finish their tasks. But the looming threat of night-time was enough to stop the Toons from agreeing.

Just as the three Toons were about to give up and take Jake's suggestion to grab dinner at a McToons in Goofy's Speedway, they heard a very loud, distressed _quack_ coming from further up the street.

Max looked at Toon. E. Fish. "Do you think that's...?"

Toony shrugged. "Could be, let's check it out!" she replied, her eyes narrowing as she sped off in excitement. Max jogged after her and after a small sigh, Jake reluctantly followed.

There were several more quacks as the three moved towards the source of the cry, and each one was louder and more distressed. The duck that was making the sound seemed to be in a lot of pain.

Finally Max and Jake arrived to see a small, cowering red duck being relentlessly attacked by a Cog – a Corporate Raider. Toon. E. Fish, who had already arrived, was giving the duck medical attention in the form of pixie dust.

"No way," breathed Max as he jumped in to help.

"What's going on?" Max quickly asked Jake, who joined a few seconds after, sounding panicked. "Is it a Corporate Raider invasion? How else could a Corporate Raider be _here_?"

Jake quickly checked his phone. "No invasion," he panted, still recovering from the long run.

Toon. E. Fish tossed a cream pie at the Cog. The robot didn't even try to dodge the attack, instead taking the pie to the face and wiping it off. 

Max looked around. "If there's no invasion, how could it -"

"Shut up!" hissed Toon. E. Fish. "Focus on taking out this Cog!"

Max stopped talking and squirted a water hose at the Cog. Once more the Cog didn't move. Jake dropped a safe, which it dodged with ease.

The Cog finally retaliated, and a flurry of Power Ties hit the Toons. The ties were much power powerful than usual. Jake hit a button to summon a storm cloud. Predictably, the Cog moved at the last second to avoid the attack, seemingly taunting the Toons, but Max had thrown a birthday cake as it moved, hitting it in the face.

While the Cog was distracted, Toon. E. Fish threw a cream pie, hitting the Cog. The red duck chucked a cupcake, which the Cog didn't even notice. The Cog struck back at Max, attacking with an 'Evil Eye', knocking Max off his feet. He struggled back up only to experience another one, hitting him again. Once more he clambered back up but the Cog was not letting him go – a Power Tie hit him in the face and he stumbled backwards. "Help," he rasped, falling against a wall. The Cog prepared to attack again, but Jake pushed his red button and a safe dropped on the Cog.

The Cog jumped up almost right away, lifting the weight off. But it was met with three cream pies, and it stumbled back. Finally, a storm cloud rained down upon the robot, and it fell to its knees. It exploded quickly, leaving a pile of gears and other Cog parts.

The three friends looked at each other after a moment, each one waiting for one of the others to say something. Finally, Jake broke the silence – "I'm hungry."


	2. Chapter 1: Crash

**The Cog Metamorphosis**

**Chapter One**

The four Toons stared at the heap of gears and wires and scrap metal. "Well, that's that," Max commented.

"Can we get something to eat now? I really can't wait to try the triple cheeseburger deluxe."

Toon. E. Fish elbowed him. "We're not in an advert for McToons. Anyway, shouldn't we get this duck home?"

Jake sighed. "Sure, I guess. But can we go to McToons tomorrow?"

"We've got trolley runs tomorrow. We could use the fun. We couldn't use the fat," Max chimed in.

Jake looked disappointed. "Fine. But we've gotta eat _something._"

Max sighed. "But it doesn't have to be something that'll clog up your arteries."

Max turned to the duck. "What's your name, buddy?"

"Frank," he replied quietly. Max noticed he was trembling a little. "It's alright, Frank," Max soothed. "You'll be -"

"Knock it off, Max!" Toon. E. Fish yelled. "Let's just get this done with, the kid doesn't need to hear something about how 'it'll all be okay'. It's done, the Cog's gone, the kid knows all that. We're just wasting time. Take him home and we'll wait in our hotel."

Max looked at her. "You knock it off. Frank's just been viciously attacked by some Cog which is way stronger than anything anyone's ever faced before. I'm just trying to make sure he's okay, it's traumatizing!"

"Like that time I had to go ten hours without food... I never wanna be separated from food again!" Jake declared.

*****Two hours later*****

In a gigantic skyscraper somewhere west of Toontown, on the thirteenth floor, there was a large, dark room. In this room there was rosewood table, seating twelve Cogs. On either side of the room were oil dispensers – one of which was currently pouring a cup of hot oil. At the front of the room was a small, oil stained desk, with pens, pencils, a couple of classified files and a red, old fashioned telephone. At the back was a large glass window, showing the hellish area outside the building – the sky here was a murky black, and and the surrounding area was full of factories, pumping toxic smoke out in to the atmosphere. There was a small train station in front of the building, and every hour a train would arrive, usually carrying oil or other goods – but occasionally carrying Toon prisoners.

A Flunky entered through the iron doors at the front carrying a manilla folder. It approached the table silently but nervously and laid down the folder in front of a particularly intimidating Big Cheese, before leaving in a hurry.

The Big Cheese wordlessly took the folder and opened it. "Subjects two through six completed testing..." he read aloud quietly... "all as expected..." he continued, raising his eyebrows. He took another document out and read it.

"Subject one.. status: terminated."

He continued to read, and after a moment cleared his throat and stood up.

"I have some bad news," he announced in his silky smooth voice, drawing the attention of every Cog.

"This information tells us that one of our subjects has been destroyed by the Toons, although we're not sure how many or who they are. If they live to tell the tale of their experiences our project may be exposed. As we all know... it is our job to hide this from the Toons for as long as possible. We must eliminate them immediately." With that, he rose from his seat and strolled over to the cup of oil that had been poured and gulped it down, before walking to the telephone. He quickly dialled a number in to it and waited for the call to be received.

After a moment he spoke. "Mr Cheese. Number 103043. Yes. Yes. I want the records from subject one's recording device. Have them delivered to the meeting room at once." He hung up.

He strolled back to his seat and sat down. A Loan Shark turned to a Legal Eagle and began to talk to him. The Big Cheese turned his gaze to the two of them. They continued to talk, oblivious to the cold stare they were receiving. The Big Cheese cleared his throat. He cleared it again. Finally, they turned to look at him. The Legal Eagle's robotic face contorted in to an expression of horror while the Loan Shark's remained mostly normal – although slightly confused at the reaction of its fellow Cog. The Big Cheese frowned. "Stand up," he ordered, pointing at the Loan Shark, who complied immediately. He slowly made his way towards the Loan Shark, enjoying the terrified silence in the room. He saw how slowly but surely, the Cog's face began to match the Legal Eagle's.

He stopped a centimetre away from the Cog. He leaned in to the Cog's ear and said, "You're new to my task force... I recruited you because of your success in hiding previous projects, and that's exactly what this task force is for. But everybody in this room is good at the same thing... and I will not tolerate misbehaviour. I don't like it when you speak out of turn, you see? So..." he pulled a pink slip from his pocket. "I want you to apologise."

The Loan Shark trembled. From his mouth emerged a single, quiet word – "sorry...".

The Big Cheese smiled. "Say it louder," he commanded, revelling in the Cog's terror.

"I'm sorry."

He smiled wider. "Shout it!" 

"I'm sorry!" he yelled, and started to beg. "Please, forgive me. I didn't mean to upset you, sir."

The Big Cheese nodded. "Good. Very good. But I'm not going to let you go on." With that, he used the pink slip, and the Cog's eyes widened, before being 'fired'.

He looked at the rest of the Cogs. "Anyone else feel like disturbing me?"

At that exact moment, a Flunky entered with a clear plastic wallet. Inside of the wallet were five DVD's.

He walked purposefully up to the Big Cheese. "These are the records you requested, from 4 PM to 9:46 PM today."

"Good," the Big Cheese replied. "Go now. I'm sure your bosses have more tasks for you... like pouring oil or whatever it is they make you do," he added, a hint of disgust in his voice.

The Flunky nodded, ignoring the insult, and left the room in a hurry. The Big Cheese pulled a remote control from his pocket and pressed a couple of buttons. A large monitor emerged from one of the walls, as well as a DVD player. He inserted a disc and sat back down in his seat. He dug around in his pockets and brought out another remote control. He fast-forwarded through several battles with Toons through the Corporate Raider's point of view, all of which were huge successes for the Cog, until he noticed one particular battle was taking longer than usual. There was a small, weak red duck which had almost been defeated, a yellow mouse which looked like it had eaten one too many pies, a skinny, tall, navy blue dog and an angry blue cat. He watched the entire battle with interest, until finally the Corporate Raider exploded.

"Four targets... interesting." he muttered to himself.

He continued to listen to audio recordings, as the recording device for audio had apparently survived.

"We've got trolley runs tomorrow -"

He paused it there.

The Big Cheese turned. "Alright, everybody. We know where they'll be tomorrow. We have a Toon on the inside, I'm sure he can sabotage the trolley with ease. I shall contact him at once. I want 6078903, 9838812 and 673870 to work on the red duck and hand in a report on this Toon as soon as possible. For now, this meeting is dismissed."

*****The next day*****

It was 3 PM and Jake, Toon. E. Fish and Max were all ready to start their trolley run after some fishing which Max insisted on, and a very fatty meal at McToons which Jake demanded . "So what's the plan for today?" Max asked.

"Seven trolley runs, which if we're lucky should get us enough Jellybeans to travel to the Brrgh for and stay for a couple of weeks. I was hoping to do a few CJ runs and visit a friend," Toon. E. Fish replied as they approached the trolley.

"You have friends other than us, Fi – I mean, Toony? I feel bad for 'em." Jake joked.

"I feel sorry for us," mumbled Max.

"Shut up or you'll feel even more sorry for yourselves!" hissed Toon. E. Fish.

They came to the trolley, but a fat, pink cat with a pink bow in her fur stood in the way.

"'Scuse me," Toon. E. Fish said, attempting to push past the obstruction.

"You can't go on the trolley right now," the cat replied after looking the three of them over, looking a little bit panicked. "We're about to start... umm... maintenance. But it'll be done in no time."

Toon. E. Fish looked at the others and shrugged. As much as she wanted to argue with the cat she figured there was nothing to do – she liked to get her way but she also liked to not crash because the track was faulty.

The cat pulled out a small radio and spoke in to it, "start the maintenance now."

"Well if we're waiting..." Jake muttered, and strolled off. "Wait right here," he instructed them, returning soon with four ice-creams.

"How long has it been since you last ate, Jake?" Max asked exasperatedly, although he was glad to get his own ice cream.

"Too long!" Jake replied defensively.

"Why's there four ice-creams?" Toon. E. Fish asked, as she grabbed hers.

"Two for me and one each for you guys!" Jake beamed.

Max simply shook his head.

Soon the trolley was clear to go on, just as Jake finished his second ice-cream. They climbed aboard eagerly, and the trolley rolled through the tunnel. But instead of stopping at a minigame station, the trolley simply kept on going through the dark tunnel. The tunnel was ancient, but it worked. The walls were made of old stone and the tracks were well-used. There were cobwebs and flickering lights, but they had now gone farther than they'd ever gone on the trolley.

"What's going on?" Max wondered aloud.

"I dunn—oh, no." Toon. E. Fish started, trailing off. "Look."

They all looked, horrified to see they were heading, at speed, towards a rather unwelcoming and dangerous looking wall. "Brace yourselves!" Max yelled, just before they slammed in to the stone.


	3. Chapter 2: Cream Pies & Coconuts

**The Cog Metamorphosis**

**Chapter Two**

Max had forced his eyes shut tight right before hitting the unforgiving stone wall – it was the very last thing he remembered, before his eyes opened once more. He realised, quite thankfully, that he was alive. He also realised he was face-up on the ground directly in front of some sort of twisted, wooden and metal wreck which he came to realise was the trolley. He must have fallen out of it.

He struggled to his feet and looked around. The sun was beginning to set, and he figured it was probably six or seven o'clock. He was near water – a lot of water. He was on an island of some description. He saw the trolley, twisted and broken, had crashed against a large rock on the edge of the island, just a few inches from where he had woken up. Ignoring his pain, he slowly made his way to the trolley and checked it out – Toon. E. Fish and Jake were both out cold inside the trolley, covered in water. The trolley must have crashed through the wall, landed in water and floated to this island, taking them with it. He examined Jake, and was glad to discover that Jake was still breathing, although he had several bruises on his body. Toon. E. Fish was in a similar state, with a bruised chest and a nasty cut on her right arm. He shook her a little and she blinked slowly. "Oh thank Flippy!" exclaimed Max, "You're alright! I was worried, Fish."

She hissed, unsheathed her claws and attempted to get at him, but found that the wreckage had her legs pinned down. "When I get out I will make you pay for calling me Fish," she warned him coldly.

Max smiled. "I'm sure you will... Fish."

He turned to Jake and shook him too. After a moment, Jake opened his eyes. "Max?" he squeaked. "What's happened?"

"The trolley floated on the ocean. It carried us to some sort of desert island."

Jake jumped up and sped off before Max could say another word. Confused, he turned back to Toon. E. Fish. "What was that all about?"

"Shut up. You are gonna regret calling me Fish!" she spat.

"Seriously though... we need to get back to Toontown. Any idea how?"

"Well I'd say the first step is getting me out!" she replied furiously.

Max thought about it. "I dunno, maybe I'll just leave you there!" Max teased. 

"And maybe I'll just rip your head off. Let me out or I'll get out myself and you will regret it."

Max sighed and braced himself for what would surely be a very painful experience as he started to pull the wreckage away from her legs. As soon as she was free, Toon. E. Fish pounced on him and scratched him right down the chest, and on his face too, before standing back up. "Stop calling me Fish!" she yelled.

Max raised an eyebrow as he stood up. "It's almost as if you didn't even get hurt in that crash! I couldn't move that well when I first started moving."

He saw Jake trudging towards them, a look of disappointment on his face. "I thought there'd be ice cream..." he mumbled.

"Ice cre- oh. I said desert island, not dessert island!" Max replied, rolling his eyes.

"So there's no dessert? No pudding? Oh Flippy..." Jake whispered, crushed. "There's no food! How will I carry on?!" he cried, falling to his knees dramatically.

Toon. E. Fish grabbed him. "Get up, idiot, so we can find some shelter or something."

He sighed and stood up. Together they moved towards some trees that were at the centre of the island. The trees were tall and surrounded by bushes and other greenery. Clearly, this place was free from Cogs or Toons messing up nature. Above their heads, tropical birds flew and called to each other. It began to rain.

"I'm hungry!" complained Jake.

"It's gonna be a long night," sighed Max.

Sheriff Spotty Dynocrash had been waiting at the gazebo for a couple of hours now. He was planning on meeting his friends, Max, Toon. E. Fish and Jake, to give them a ride to Donald's Dock, where they'd retake a few Cog Buildings. But they never showed up, and calling their mobile phones yielded no results, save for allowing him to give them several messages he was sure they would not hear any time soon. He looked at his watch for the fifth time that hour and sighed, shaking his head. "That's it," he mumbled to himself. He considered reporting them missing to Toon Headquarters, but then decided not to. He figured he'd check a few places out first; he used to be a detective, and he knew how to find people. More importantly, he knew if he left it up to the police they might never be found. He went through each street in Toontown Central, twice, looking for them. He asked everyone he saw if they'd seen them. He even checked the hotel they were staying at – but there was nothing. All his efforts were fruitless; it was if they'd vanished in to thin air. Or as if Jake had eaten them all and hidden really well.

He finally walked through Punchline Place, now in the dark. He looked up in to the sky and saw dozens of Cogs begin to descend, like they were crows finding a meal, as they did every night. He continued walking, feeling a little concerned over the way Toontown was going – it seemed the Cogs were cooking some sort of plan up.

He looked at the flickering lampposts and the light from televisions and lamps in people's houses shining through windows illuminating his otherwise pitch-black path. He wondered what happened to his friends, and whether they were okay.

He reached the headquarters after a short walk avoiding Cogs. Although his gags were stocked up he felt no need to get in a fight right now, as it would only waste time, and a lot of Cogs would step up to try and beat him. The headquarters on this street was the first ever built – construction started a day after the war started and finished a week later. Afterwards more were built quickly, but most were knocked down and rebuilt properly during a very brief ceasefire. This one never got rebuilt, and was the oldest, which was very clearly showing. The paint on it was scratched away in some places. Part of the door was cracked. There was graffiti on the walls and the banner that once read "Headquarters" was ripped up. Bricks on the wall were missing. Inside, the condition was worse, with mould growing on the walls and floorboards missing. Walking inside made Sheriff feel a little less hopeful; the atmosphere was one of quiet misery and boredom. Usually, if you ended up working for Toon Headquarters you had given up on being successful or happy in life.

All four Toons on duty at the desks were snoozing lightly. Sheriff didn't blame them, considering the time and the boredom that comes with the job, and approached one of them, a tall purple horse. He tapped the Toon lightly, and he jumped out of his skin. He looked shocked, and a little nervous. His eyes were wide and he was shaking a little. Clearly, he feared he would be reported for sleeping on the job. He was new. "Oh, sorry!" the horse exclaimed. "I just – I got tired. But umm... I'm happy to help with any inquiries you'd like to make."

Sheriff smiled, although he felt far from happy. "I actually wanted to report some Toons missing."

The horse nodded, and took out a notepad from his pocket, hooves still shaking at the prospect of being reported and losing the only job he could get. "What are their names, sir?" he asked, plastering on a clearly false smile.

"Toon. E. Fish, Max, and Jake. Toon. E. Fish is a female, the other two are males."

The horse quickly wrote the information down on his notepad. "And how long have they been missing?"

"Well, I called 'em last night and talked to them at 9 PM. That was the last time I spoke to them, but we were supposed to meet at 6 PM today."

"I see... well, if you'll just write down your phone number, I'll pass on this report and information on to the police and you'll be called with any updates," he said, passing the notepad and pen over to Sheriff. He quickly scribbled the number on the paper and passed it back. "Alright, is there anything else you need?" he asked.

The horse shook his head. "That'll be all. We'll find your friends, don't you worry."

Despite the horse's re-assurance, Sheriff felt like he would never see his friends again as he left the building.

Jake, Max and Toon. E. Fish had found a few gag trees – cream pies, water hoses, storm clouds, and large magnets – growing at the centre of the island. Whoever had grown them and kept them alive was a mystery, although it was not one that the three of them had pondered much. Jake had reluctantly harvested the gags while Toon. E. Fish and Max built a small shelter out of tree branches and leaves. The shelter was very poorly constructed, and it was just large enough for the three of them. It would provide a tiny amount of protection from rain, but not much, and Max wondered whether it may withstand strong winds without simply falling apart. Max also went to work building a fire, before the three of them took a short break and sat down.

"Let's look around for a while," Max suggested. "We'll probably be staying here for a couple of days. We might as well check the area out."

Toon. E. Fish nodded. "But afterwards I'm getting some sleep, got it? And if one of you two idiots disturbs me I'll rip you apart."

Max laughed. "We're the idiots?"

Toon. E. Fish nodded. "Have you even _met_ Jake?" she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey! I resent that!" Jake interjected.

Max sighed. "Fair enough," he conceded. "But who was it that thought penguins weren't real?"

"You called me the next day yelling that _unicorns _were real!" Toon. E. Fish replied angrily. "Anyway... it's not like there's some huge club for them! Which would be an incredibly stupid club," she added with a sly wink to nobody in particular.

"I meant to say penguins!" protested Max.

After a moment of quiet, Max and Toon. E. Fish turned to look at Jake, who was busy stuffing a cream pie in to his face eagerly. "What the – you ate two ice-creams just before we got on that darn trolley! You're just wasting supplies! Why do you need to eat again?" Max questioned, a little angrily.

Jake just blinked and burped.


	4. Chapter 3: Hallelujah It's Raining Cogs

**The Cog Metamorphosis**

**Chapter Three**

It had been three days since Sheriff Spotty Dynocrash had filed his police report, and he had not yet heard any updates on the case. He had become increasingly worried about his missing friends, taking every option available to him that could lead to their discovery, but all of his efforts amounted to nothing. He had begun to think that perhaps they would never be found; he was fairly confident that they had been kidnapped by Cogs, and the Toons that are taken by Cogs and not held for ransom at Sellbot Headquarters or tried in Lawbot Headquarters generally ended up depressed or locked away for life, never to be seen again. He participated in several attacks on the Vice President of the Sellbots and on the Chief Justice, but he never saw his friends.

At two o'clock, he had found himself in Toontown Central checking in with the Toons working for the HQ, hoping against hope that there would be some clue or detail that could lead to his friends.

He entered the Headquarters on Punchline Place and walked up to the sienna horse on duty. "Hi," he greeted the horse, who seemed old; at least in his fifties. He had a wrinkled face and drooping, aged eyes.

"Hello, sir," the horse replied grimly. He sounded weak, sad and bored. "What can I help you with?" although this was very clearly a question, it was spoken with such bluntness that it seemed like a statement of some sort.

"I filled in a missing Toons report the other day – my name's Sheriff Spotty Dynocrash – I'd like to know if there were any updates on the case?"

The horse nodded and slowly began to rummage through a drawer that extended out of the counter for the folder containing the report. Finally he found the correct folder and whipped it out.

"There haven't been any new developments," the horse commented after a slow look through the folder. "We'll call if there are. Have a good day, sir."

Sheriff sighed and contemplated reporting the horse for not asking for his I.D as he left, but decided against it – he simply didn't have time for reports at the moment. He headed for the trolley to restock on jellybeans, and then gags. But when he got in to the playground he saw a few detectives and forensic technicians outside the trolley.

Slowly, Sheriff made his way over to the cluster of officers, detectives and forensic technicians. A tall, intimidating green dog stepped in front of him as he moved towards the yellow tape. "No civilians past this point, sir," he warned Sheriff.

Sheriff nodded and spotted a detective he used to work with – a yellow cat, detective Taylor.

Sheriff looked at the dog. "Can you get detective Taylor? I need to talk to him."

The dog shook his head. "The detectives are busy. There will be time to talk to him after this is done."

Sheriff frowned, feeling slightly frustrated at the officer's unwillingness to co-operate. A crowd began to form nearby with a large amount of Toons wanting to know what was going on. "I know him, he's a friend. I used to work for the police."

"_Used_ to. You don't anymore and I can't allow you to get past."

Sheriff felt increasingly frustrated. "Listen here son, I-"

This was cut short as Taylor spotted him and hurried over. "Spotty!" he greeted warmly.

Sheriff plastered on a smile, calming down a little. "Taylor. I was just in the neighbourhood and wanted to know what was up here," he replied, hoping it had something to do with his friends.

"I can't tell you that, Spotty."

Spotty narrowed his eyes. "Look, this could be important... can you at least tell me if this has anything to do about three missing Toons?"

Taylor sighed. "Look, I really don't want to tell you this, but -"

"But you owe me a favour. So spill."

"Yes, it does. Jake, Toon. E. Fish, and Max. I know they were your friends."

Spotty became extremely panicked and for a second he felt a little queasy.

"W-were?" he gasped.

Taylor, with a pained and tired look on his face, nodded. He fidgeted with his fingers, and after a moment, spoke. "We... found a huge hole at the very end of the trolley. We've been asking around for witnesses and someone mentioned maintenance on the trolley. Problem is, the Toon Council didn't order any maintenance work for the trolley. Long story short... your friends went right through the wall at the end of the tunnel, and in to the water. I'm sorry, Spotty, they're gone."

On the island, the three friends had begun to put their resources to use. They had crafted baskets, full of gags, and then individual shelters for each of them. They explored the island and even tried to build rafts; but they were not strong enough to support them.

Toon. E. Fish and Jake were gathering firewood from trees near the edge of the island. While Toon. E. Fish collected some from a small tree, Jake moved towards the shore, where the sparkling, bright blue water lapped gently and rhythmically against the burning sand. There were a few scraps of wood leftover from one of their attempts at raft building. As he neared it he noticed a strange device floating towards the edge of the island. It looked somewhat like a crossbow, but made to fire cream pies.

It floated close enough for him to grasp it. There was a slot to insert a cream pie – he slowly put one of his pies in to it. After a moment of messing around with it he discovered something that seemed to be a trigger mechanism. He pulled it back and the cream pie flew through the air with a huge amount of force, colliding with a tree.

Jake stared in awe at the thing before he realised that Toon. E. Fish was under that tree and was now covered with cream, making her way towards him with a furious expression on her face. She stomped ever closer as he walked backwards, unable to tell whether he should dive in to the sea and swim for safety or run and hope he could make it past her. He froze, terrified, and she launched herself at him, clawing at his chest. "You ruined my dress! As if this whole messed up situation hadn't done enough to it, you had to spill cream pie on it!" she growled, relentlessly scratching at him. He tried to kick her away but she bit down hard.

"Owww!" he screamed, feeling intense pains. She raised a paw over her head, claws unsheathed, and she was about to bring them down when she noticed a strange sound coming from above. She paused, glancing upwards, and saw a grey stream of something descending on to the island.

It was an army of thousands of angry, powerful Cogs.


	5. Chapter 4: Trouble in Paradise

**The Cog Metamorphosis**

**Chapter 4**

**A/N: **

**This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful girlfriend, who I adore more than anything in this world (except maybe cookies).**

**A/N**

The black and grey swarm descended upon the Toons slowly, ominously. The Cogs were not very knowledgeable about matters that were not pre-programmed into them – not older generations of Cogs, anyway – but they knew that the Toons were trapped on the island with no escape, so there was no point in hurrying their landing. They chose to ominously make their way down to the ground at a low speed, teasing the Toons on the island. Toon. E. Fish jumped off Jake and rummaged around in her backpack for a gag, pulling out a birthday cake.

"What do we do?!" yelled Jake, eyes wide with terror, as he jumped up, instinctively reaching for a cream pie. The two of them looked around for any escape, but there was nothing they could do to escape the approaching Cogs.

"I- I don't know!" Toon. E. Fish yelled, her voice competing with the sound of thousands of rotors spinning. She caught sight of the trees at the centre of the island – the Toons had yet to explore it but the green trees were many, and would provide a lot of cover. "There!" she exclaimed, pointing to the centre. "We need to head over there, it might buy us some time!" she continued, speaking rapidly, aware that the Cogs would land any minute now. She glanced upwards to see that only a few were actually landing, maybe sixty of them – the majority were beginning to fly away from the island and over the crystalline water, probably to attack someone else. Still, the number of Cogs landing was still too much for them to fight. She wondered if they could make it without being hit by the attacks of the Cogs – it was about a kilometre away and she had no way of judging how likely they were to avoid attacks on the way.

"Darn, we need to get Max!" she hissed. "Jake! Grab Max and run for the trees. I'll meet up with you over there and for Flippy's sake do NOT eat our gags!" she ordered. He simply nodded and sped off to the place they'd last seen Max. Toon. E. Fish watched him run, kicking up dusty sand as he went, and then turned away.

She turned just in time to see a Mingler, Mr. Hollywood and Legal Eagle all touch down at the same time, their mechanical eyes locking on to her. They moved towards her quickly, and she backed away in fear, throwing the birthday cake she had pulled out at the Mingler. It connected with the Cog's face, but the Mingler simply wiped it off as if it were nothing. She continued to back away as the Mr. Hollywood attacked with a 'Razzle Dazzle'. It hit its target and she lost some laff. The Legal Eagle attacked thrice with an 'Evil Eye', each one hitting Toon. E. Fish. The Mingler stepped up to make its move but Toon. E. Fish managed to pull out a red button and push it, causing a black storm cloud to appear above the Cog's head. The Cog stopped momentarily and she bolted for a nearby tree. It was a tall, leafy palm tree, and it provided little cover, but it would have to do – she was low on laff and out of energy. She closed her eyes tight, and realised it may well be the end for her. She was being followed by the three Cogs still and it was a miracle other Cogs weren't going after her – she figured they stayed out of it because the three Cogs following her had it covered. She opened her eyes and pulled a cream pie out of her backpack. She took a deep breath, and left the cover of the tree, running for the centre of the island, wondering if she'd make it. The three Cogs in pursuit of her followed along as the sun began to hide behind clouds, as if it didn't want to see what was seemingly about to happen. She neared her destination and took a better look at the trees as she sprinted. They were tall, strong, and proud. If she could make it in to the evergreen forest she might have a good chance of living through the day. With all of her remaining energy she pounced in to a bush, taking refuge in it for a moment before peeking out.

The forest was vast and extremely colourful. The trees stretched out high above her head, and they looked like they were going to go up for miles. She noticed that there were a few birds flying above her head, calling to each other, no doubt disturbed by the Cog attack. But despite the Cogs, there was no way to deny that the place was strikingly beautiful, more amazing than anywhere Toon. E. Fish had ever seen. She was never very sensitive but it was breathtaking. It was paradise.

Some of the leafier trees blocked out a little light, and the deeper she wandered through the forest the darker it became. Roots of the trees caused her to stumble on more than one occasion, but she kept going, hoping to find her friends, though they had not yet responded to her calling out. The crunching of a few twigs and fallen leaves was the only sound, other than her calls, now. She guessed that the Cogs had given up trying to look for her or her friends, and she could only hope that her friends had made it inside the forest. If they hadn't, it would be too late for her to go back now; the Cogs were probably already organised and would be much more efficient. And anyway, from the way they attacked her, she knew they were aiming to depress them all.

The question was, why? What was so important about three Toons and a deserted island that the Cogs would send a small army to attack? Heck, they were probably never going to get back to civilization even without the attacking Cogs, so it wasn't that the Cogs wanted them out of their way.

She began to ponder this more deeply when she heard a call. "Toon. E. Fish? Toon. E. Fish! Are you here? Please! He-" the voice was cut off. It was definitely Max's voice, and there was a hint of exhaustion in it. It came from deeper in the forest, where the sunlight barely reached at all. Without thinking, she sped off towards the voice, terrified for her friend's fate. At the same time, she wondered about destroying the Cogs that were doing this. Her thoughts drifted to how fun it was; the thrill of the battle, the rush, and the exploding metal shell. It was all very exciting. But now there was another part of it that appealed to her; revenge. The Cogs had done their best to depress her and her friends. She wanted to make them pay for that. She made a mental note to leave the forest later, when some of the Cogs had hopefully left, and destroy what remained with her friends. The Cogs would pay.

"Toon. E. Fish! Are you here? Please! He-" Max screamed, before he was grabbed from behind. He and Jake had explored the deep forest, looking for Toon. E. Fish, but Max had lost track of Jake and had only realised _why_ when he heard the green grass crunching. Something was chasing after him – multiple somethings. He crashed through the forest, trying to escape the shadowy figures pursuing him. His heart was pounding – on top of the Cog attack something new and unknown was following him. He had just seemed to escape, albeit only temporarily, when he yelled for Toon. E. Fish's help, hoping she would hear him and do something. But then, he felt something clamp down, hard, on his throat – an arm. He struggled pointlessly against the iron grip, and felt oxygen slowly drain from his body. He feebly tried to call out for help again, but he found that he couldn't. He passed out, staring up at the canopy of the forest, wondering if he'd wake up again.

As it happens, Max _did _wake up again. He opened his eyes slowly, and looked around. It took a moment for his brain to process what he was seeing; he saw Toons. A lot of them, at least fifty. Toons of every colour, shape, and species were around. Some were gathered in front of a fire; it seemed to be a campsite of some sort. There were Toons posted on trees with gags, and several wooden huts where the Toons presumably slept. He realised he was in a cage made of wood, and his two friends were beside him. They must have gotten Toon. E. Fish, too, probably shortly after they captured him. But now Toons were here, he was saved!

"Hey!" he yelled. "Help me! Help me out of here! I think the Cogs put us in here!" he cried, trying desperately to get the attention of the Toons, but they all ignored him. He looked over at his two friends, who were slowly waking up. "What's wrong with you people?! Help!" he begged. He continued to scream, but Toons acted as if he didn't exist... until a tall, slim, sienna dog approached, after jumping down from a tall rock at the centre of the campsite. Even amongst the other Toons, who all seemed very muscular, he stood out as an extremely strong Toon. Just watching him approach made Max scared; he was by far the most intimidating Toon he'd ever seen. Jake had backed to the very back of the cage.

"What the heck is going on?!" Toon. E. Fish whispered to Max. He shrugged his shoulders, unable to turn his head away from the Toon; he was mesmerised.

The Toon made it to their cage. Max was speechless. "Greetings, Toons," the dog growled. He was hardly happy to see them.

"H-hello..." Max mumbled shyly. Jake stayed quiet as his stomach rumbled. Toon. E. Fish wrapped her paws around the bars of the cage.

"Why are we in a cage? Did you put us here?" she questioned, coldly.

The dog's facial expression did not change at all. "Yes, I did; many members of my tribe did. Many of us have had to do bad things today... you are the reason. You are the harbingers of all the destruction that has rained upon my home. You shall stay here in imprisonment."

"W-w-we're sorry!" Max apologised. "We didn't mean to get anyone hurt, I mean, we didn't even want to come here!" he added.

"You brought the monsters to my island!" barked the dog. "They occupy it now. I hear tales of what they do in your home, a home my grandfather once inhabited. Toontown, they call it. Well, now I assure you they will do worse to us. I lost many good Toons today. Our crops were burned. We are STILL fighting the monsters. Clearly you tried to escape them and brought them along... you have caused massive destruction, you three, and you shall pay!"

Toon. E. Fish hissed. "We never wanted to come here! Why would we want to? We liked Toontown! Maybe your grandfather didn't but we did! It was nice. We don't know why the Cogs came here but if it was because of us, it isn't our fault! Why would we want to come to this stupid place?" she raged.

The dog stayed silent for a moment, before speaking quite calmly. "You bring the monsters to my home... you cause many of my tribe to be depressed... and now you disrespect us. I am the tribal leader... it was a position my grandfather once held, he was an honourable Toon. He was respectful and brave. You lack respect or honour and you have brought certain doom to my tribe, everything he worked for. He came here to escape what happened in Toontown because he wanted peace. You have undone that. You will not speak another word to me, child. But the monsters will come and depress us all... and you shall be depressed with us."

**A/N:**

**Thanks for reading my story so far! I love writing, and this is by far my favourite story to write (or in this case rewrite). Please consider reviewing and following this story as it is very uplifting and it makes me inspired to write more chapters.**

**Thanks again!**


	6. Chapter 5: Milk

**The Cog Metamorphosis **

**Chapter Five**

It had been a few hours since Sheriff had received the world-shattering news that his friends were gone. He had headed straight home after hearing the news and locked himself inside, intending to never leave again, crawling in to bed. His head was spinning, and he didn't want to leave again. He had no purpose. The police force was once his life, his passion, his everything, the most important thing in his life, and he put as much effort in to it as possible. He remembered seeing, as a child, Toons that would steal or hurt other Toons. On the playground bullies would gang up on weaker Toons, and he would gaze at them and wonder how to stop the cruel Toons. He didn't want anyone to escape justice.

His job had evaporated after too seeing too much pain and too much suffering. Things he wouldn't have seen in his worst nightmares had become his reality; he needed to get out of it. He retired and focused on finer things. Recently it had been his three friends, who, under the surface, appeared to have a lot of potential. He saw something he once had in Toon. E. Fish, ambition, strength. He dreamt of showing them the way to make themselves in to something... amazing. Strong. Toons that could change Toontown.

But he had been a fool to dream of this. He couldn't guide them to something better; he didn't know the way himself. He had no idea where he was drifting.

But his friends were gone, depressed. With a few words, his life, both his current one and his dream one, were snapped clean in two, like a twig on some cold, dying tree in winter. There was simply no point for him to keep going when he had no purpose anymore. No friends, no wife, no children and no job – he was exactly the sort of Toon that Toontown could ignore. These Toons would live out their lives forgotten by everyone. Maybe, at first, they'd get a few words from other Toons, but they'd eventually become loners, never interacting with anyone else. It was certainly his future.

But as he stumbled out of bed, groggy and only just awake enough to recognise that he wasn't sleeping, and absolutely drained enough to wish he was, an intense hunger hit him. He was starving. He walked to his small kitchen, his mouth dry and his stomach rumbling. He opened his cupboard and pulled out a plate. He then looked for a glass but there was nothing except smudged, dirty glasses that had yet to be washed. He remembered he hadn't washed last night's dishes. He sighed and set down the cleanest glass on the counter, then staggered to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of milk. He would rather have a drink that had more of an effect on him but there was nothing. He poured the milk out slowly, wondering if he even wanted to drink. He was thirsty but he didn't even want to be awake, or alive. What did a stupid glass of milk matter anyway? He was headed towards the end of his life on his own. A single glass of milk made no difference.

He remembered when he was new on the police force. He would give it his all, every day, getting home at 3 AM and collapsing when he entered his room. He wouldn't hesitate to take on a hard case or work way longer on something that would probably lead nowhere than he should. Slowly, he began to get home sooner. He got to actually reach his bed. He settled for easier work. The path he'd been on, a path of hard work and determination, was one he wanted to take throughout life. But another path appeared, and he caved. Now, looking back at his life, he wished he'd kept to the path. But he was far away from that path now, he'd crossed a river and there was no way back to where he had been. He wanted to tell himself that he'd achieved something amazing, something wonderful, but he couldn't think of anything.

Turning away from the counter, he gazed through the window. There was nothing that interested him and nothing he was looking for, but there was nothing else for him to do. It took a moment for him to realise that his neighbour's house had turned grey.

"No way," he muttered to himself. He blinked, but it was still grey. "It can't be..."

He was frozen for a moment, before he realised that nobody else was going to do anything. He ran from his counter to his room upstairs. It was a mess; clothes were all over the floor, socks were down the side out of his be, there were wrappers of chocolate bars lying on the floor, and various papers were everywhere. Coins that he had never bothered to put in his wallet or a jar were on his desk. His grey carpet was full of crumbs. Coat hangers lay on the floor.

He ran to his closet and pulled it open. Piles of clothes he'd stuffed inside the closet fell on him, but he shook them off and grabbed a coat and jogging pants. He pulled a bag full of gags out, too, and then raced out of the house.

It had been a few hours since the unfortunate conversation between the tribe leader and the three friends. Despite claiming that they'd all be depressed, the tribe leader ordered his men to hold the Cogs off as long as possible, and left, presumably to figure out what to do.

"Oh Flippy, we're going to be depressed!" Max howled. "There's nothing we can do..."

"Shut up, Max!" Toon. E. Fish ordered. "If you wanna get depressed keep saying that, but if you don't let me think for a moment!"

Jake sighed. "I dunno, Fish. I think this might be the end... and I never got to try the quadruple strawberry jellybean-shake!" he said, and immediately noticed his mistake. Toon. E. Fish turned to glare at him. He tried to make himself smaller, screwing his eyes shut. Toon. E. Fish did nothing.

He opened one eye after a moment and saw that she was smiling. "Umm... Toony?" he spoke.

"Yes, Jake?" she replied cheerfully.

"I... I called you Fish..."

"I know."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yep!" she responded, in a sing-song voice.

Jake and Max looked at her in confusion, then glanced at each other, puzzled by her sudden and unusually cheerful attitude. Toon. E. Fish was pre-occupied with something else, something deep inside her head; finding a way out of this mess. "We're not going to be depressed today," she muttered to herself. "It's not going to end yet."

Sheriff took off running across his estate towards his neighbour's house. It was a modest home with only one room; the owner was quiet and kept to himself, save for the occasional visit to other Toons to embark on attacks on the factory or Vice President of sales. Still, Sheriff knew that he wasn't particularly strong or important, yet his house had seemingly been invaded by Cogs. The sky above him was grey and the sun was concealed with thick, grey clouds that loomed overhead, teasingly. Storm clouds were preparing to roll in to the sky and unleash their wet, dreary contents upon everybody beneath them. A storm was surely on its way, whether it was big or small.

Sheriff pulled out a birthday cake from his bag, his hands shaking. The cake dropped on to the floor and he hissed to himself, kicking it away. He steadied his hands, took a deep breath, and took out another cake. He decided to do his best to block what he had lost out, for now, and focus on the house. He decided to enter the house quietly but ready to take on whatever was inside. He realised that the likelihood of the Toon inside being okay was slim; when Cogs invaded a regular building they were brutal. On the very rare occasion that they invaded a house, they would do anything and everything to depress the Toons inside.

He checked the lock; the door was locked. The Cogs were being careful, here. It obviously wasn't something they could do in a few moments and get away; they needed time. But time for what? Sheriff quickly moved around the house and checked the windows; curtains covered the windows and the windows were locked. The door at the back of the house was also locked. He moved back around to the front.

He pulled a lockpick out of his pocket. He'd seen enough from his days on the force that Toons could be trapped and depressed by Cogs or even other sick and twisted Toons. He always did his best to prepare. As he opened the door he heard a Cog, speaking in a harsh robotic voice. He peeked inside; the main room was in front of him, but it seemed the Cogs and the Toon were on a side of the room that was blocked by the wall. He was about to go in and destroy the Cogs when he heard the Cog again.

"What did you see?" it questioned. He froze. Were the Cogs trying to hide something?

"Nothing!" came a squeak. "I swear I didn't see anyth-ARGH!"

Sheriff closed his eyes. He needed to hear more, no matter what was going on. If Cogs were going in to Toon's houses to hide something by removing witnesses there was something very big going on.

"We know you saw something," came another robotic voice. "We will not hesitate to depress you if you continue to hide what you saw from us."

Sheriff panicked. He was torn between stopping the Cogs and rescuing the mouse inside and finding out what was going on. Impulse told him he needed to go ahead and destroy the Cogs, and cobble together whatever the Cogs were planning from clues, and the Toon's own words, but his rational mind told him to wait it out and gather more information. He wondered why he was there; he should be asleep, and someone else should have been doing this. He wasn't exactly in the best condition, and there was no room for mistakes with a Toon's life on the line, yet there was no way he could get the police there on time. He'd have to take care of this himself and hope he would make the right decision.

"B-but... you're going to depress me anyway!" he heard. There was an edge to the mouse's voice this time. He sounded defiant, and angry.

"That is true," the first Cog spoke. "You glimpsed something larger than your pathetic life, Toon. What you saw, however you saw it, is bigger than everyone... even me. And it is not yet ready to be unleashed upon you Toons, but when it is there will be a great victory for us... and a great loss for you. And you will _not _speak of it. You will not ruin it."

Sheriff took a step inside. He was close to hearing about whatever it was they were hiding.

"Then why should I tell you?"

There was a laugh from the Cog. "I need to know where you saw our little project."

"I won't tell you."

Sheriff took another step, his heart racing. He couldn't afford to mess this up.

"You will. See, you're going to be depressed... but you should worry about what happens before that. Recently I had three obnoxious Toons who happened across our project due to... a mistake on our end... dumped in the ocean. And now I know they're alive... but they won't be for much longer. Now -"

Sheriff jumped in to the room, his mind racing, and saw there were three Cogs; a Loan Shark, a Legal Eagle and a Big Cheese. A million questions ran through his head: what were they hiding? Were the three Toons his friends? What were they going to do to them? He forced them out and focused on the Cogs. He was outnumbered and possibly outmached. He had to focus.

"Now you explode!" Sheriff cut him off, throwing his cake at the Loan Shark. It quickly exploded, and as the Legal Eagle took aim at him (whilst the Big Cheese backed away from them), he threw a pie at the Legal Eagle. It wiped the pie off but with all of his ferocity and energy, he threw another, and finished it off with a storm cloud.

He looked for the Big Cheese, but it was gone, the only clue about its fate being an open window, the Cog's escape route of choice. The mouse was saddened, probably by the Big Cheese, but not depressed.

"We're getting you to the hospital," he told the mouse as he took it in his arms. "And then... I'm going to find my friends."


	7. Chapter 6: Trapped

**The Cog Metamorphosis**

**Chapter 6**

The tribe had managed to hold off the Cogs for a while with the gags they had grown, but there were many Cogs and the Toons were rapidly losing ground. The tribe's leader was commanding his Toons, but even he knew that the battle was being lost. The camp was not yet invaded, but the Toons holding the area around it were starting to go sad, one by one. It was a matter of time before the Cogs broke inside and crushed the camp.

Almost every Toon fit to fight was sent out to fight the Cogs and protect the camp, save for a few Toons guarding the interior. The inside of the camp was chaotic; there were young Toons crying, burying their faces in the older Toon's stomachs, most of whom were just as panicked as the children, and only some of whom were able to hide this. Some of the huts which used to be inhabited by one or two Toons were cramped, filled with as many Toons as they could accommodate. There was screaming, and now and then Toons staggering from the outside of the camp, beaten and weak, begging for someone to help. They would be guided to another hut, presumably a place to treat the Toons.

The tribe's leader approached the cage once more, almost appearing out of nowhere. He was clearly quite bruised and hurt, and he was panting. He looked Toon. E. Fish straight in the eye.

"Look what you have... you... have done..." he muttered, and slumped against the cage. "You... this is all your fault," he whimpered. His face was tired-looking, his eyes drooping. He couldn't keep himself upright, and he was very clearly defeated.

"No it's n-" Toon. E. Fish began, but Max shoved her out of the way.

"Please, excuse my friend!" begged Max. "I... we got off on the wrong foot, s-sir," he stuttered, his hands trembling. "But... we know how to defeat Cogs better than anyone in this tribe – not that you're weak but we've dealt with more of them!" he explained. "Let us out. Please. We'll defend the Toons here. I promise."

The leader nodded, and sighed. "I did not know it was like this... the pain. I thought... monsters would finish us quickly!" he whimpered. "But... you brought them here."

Max nodded, and Toon. E. Fish had to bite her paw to keep from yelling at the Toon. "We did. But never did we want them here, I p-p-promise! And now we can finish them."

The dog turned around to see a Cog approaching. It was a Robber Baron. He grimaced as it approached the hut filled with the weak Toons being treated. He had no gags. He turned to the three friends.

"I shall release you... but you must defend my people. And once you are done... leave. Never ever return."

Toon. E. Fish was torn between joy and frustration that the tribe's leader presumed they would ever want to return. "I'd rather drink oil," she muttered to herself. Jake and Max were picking the first option; joy. The leader unlocked the cage and Toon. E. Fish leapt out, followed by Max. Toon. E. Fish slammed the cage door as Jake tried to leave.

"Umm... Toony?" he questioned, as she walked away. Max stood near the cage, confused. She turned around.

"Yes, Jake?" she replied, smiling.

"Umm... why did you shut the cage on me?" he asked, getting a little nervous.

"You called me Fish."

There were beeps and whirs and frantic shouting and rushing about at the Minnie Mouse Hospital, in Minnie's Melodyland. It was an interesting contrast from the calming music that is played in the rest of the neighbourhood, although it was a particularly unsettling one. Sheriff Spotty Dynocrash sat, listening to these sounds, waiting for the mouse to recover. He sighed and sipped on a coffee, tapping his foot nervously. He desperately wanted to talk to the mouse about what he had seen, but the poor thing was unconscious. Every time he heard footsteps he glanced towards the door.

"Come on," he muttered to the Toon. "Wake up." He couldn't decide whether to stay or to go – to wait it out and find out what the Cogs were planning or save his friends. After a few moments

of internal debate, he stood up and left. He continued walking, right to the exit of the hospital, and in to the kart park. He climbed in to his kart and drove through the pink streets full of music and laughter. He smiled to himself, glancing up to see a bright blue sky. _Maybe things will be okay,_ he thought to himself. Maybe he could be truly happy.

Toon. E. Fish had reluctantly released Jake from the cage and took him to fight the Cogs. She felt a sense of exhilaration in fighting Cogs with others, and even found that the others were fairly good at battling the dreary drones. Time passed swiftly as cream pies flew in every direction and Toons braced for the retaliation of the Cogs. Jake pulled out a squirting hose and rounded up a couple more Toons, commanding them all to do the same. "One, two, three, fire!" he yelled above the sounds of the island: exploding, screaming, rapid rotors relentlessly turning, and the occasional falling tree. All of the Toons unleashed jets of water from their hoses, hitting a Loan Shark that was fighting Max and Toon. E. Fish. Max ran off to help a bear who was being attacked by three Legal Eagles, whilst Toon. E. Fish took on a Mr. Hollywood. "You're going down!" she screamed, charging at it like a madman. It backed off, sensing an atypical courage in her. Jake noticed they were succeeding at beating back the Cogs.

Two dogs, working together, took down a few Cogs trying to enter the campground. Almost as if they had been planning on it, the Cogs all suddenly started ascending. They were retreating at last.

Jake sat down on the soil as other Toons went on to fight the Cogs, even as they fled. He was entirely exhausted, as drained as a used up battery in a television remote. He gasped for air after taking so many short, panicked breaths. He had thought the battle may have been his last.

Max sought him out and sat with him. "That was quite a battle, huh?" he said to Jake. Jake nodded.

"You see Fish? If she ran outta gags, I think she'd have dismantled the Cogs with her bare hands!" Jake chuckled.

"I'll dismantle _you_ if you call me Fish again!" came a hiss. Jake whipped around to see Toon. E. Fish.

"It's good to see you!" Jake beamed, ignoring the threat. "Although I didn't like it when you locked me up in a cage."

She rolled her eyes. "Get over it, Jake."

He sighed. "Whatever you say, Fi – Toony."

Max stood up. "Okay, so... how are we gonna get out of here, anyway? I get the feeling they don't want us around."

Toon. E. Fish shrugged. "That _is_ a problem," she muttered to herself, chewing her lip. She looked around at the now devastated island. Many trees had been reduced to smouldering branches and leaves. Huts and other structures now lay on the floor, torn apart. There were saddened and depressed Toons lying on the floor everywhere. The scene was one of absolute desolation; the Cogs had arrived and left nothing the same. They took good care to destroy everything.

"I have the answer," came a voice behind them. They looked around to see a short, purple rabbit.

Toon. E. Fish raised her eyebrows. "Go on," she said.

The rabbit gestured to a path out of the forest. "A raft has been prepared for you all. You shall find your way back to your home, and warn the others to never come here again. You are not welcome here."

Max stepped forward. "Are you sure?" he questioned. "I mean, we could send help. We could -"

"No!" the rabbit boomed, angrily. "Look around. This is our home and you have brought upon us doom. We do not want you or any of your people here. It will only cause more suffering."

Max opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. "Very well," he replied, after a moment of puzzling over what to say next, and stepped back.

Toon. E. Fish glared at the rabbit. "You're trying to depress us," she accused, her voice uncharacteristically quiet and calm.

The rabbit looked taken aback. "We have done no such thing."

Toon. E. Fish let out a small growl. "You have. You're sending us on a raft back to Toontown. What if there's a storm? We'll be washed away. And I don't think you expect us to swim through all that."

The rabbit smiled smugly. "You will have to depend on your luck, and hope fate is kinder to you than it was to us the day you arrived here."

About an hour later, the three had collected together supplies they would need for their journey back, making sure to avoid the tribe as much as possible. Every time a Toon would see them, they would glare at them, and sometimes argue with them. Twice, Max and Jake had to restrain Toon. E. Fish.

After what seemed like a lifetime of being blamed for the destruction of the island, the three finally got on the raft. To the tribe's credit, it was fairly spacious and sturdy.

And so, with a push from a green cat, who snarled at them as they departed from the island, they were on their way.

"I can't wait to get back!" Jake cried, overcome with joy, as if he was just now being hit with the realisation that they were going to go home. "I'll get to eat real food again..."

"If real food is tons of fat and salt that'll clog your arteries up, sure you will," Max agreed.

"I can't wait for you to get home so you can take a shower," Toon. E. Fish told him.

Jake chuckled. "Never change, Fish."

She hissed. "You think I won't push you off this raft?"

Suddenly, she looked behind her, hearing the sound of rotors, disregarding Jake. A Head Hunter was flying towards them – it was one of the Cogs that had been on the island. It had probably spotted them as they left and followed closely.

"Guys, there's -" Toon. E. Fish started, but was silenced when the Cog fired an ' Evil Eye' at the raft, breaking it. They all fell out of the raft and in to the freezing cold waters, which began to pull them down in to the deep, deadly, despair that was the bottom of the ocean.


	8. Chapter 7: Waves

**The Cog Metamorphosis**

**Chapter 7**

Waves. So many waves. The waves crashed against the desperate Toons as they made motions that, while pathetic, they poured their effort in to. But effort wasn't enough, the mighty water was beginning to win while they steadily lost their battle. The sea is strong. Too strong.  
Depression is an awful thing; something that wasn't meant to happen to Toons, but did. In any ordinary situation, they'd stay out of the water, but they couldn't, not now. The task of reaching land was exhausting. All three of them were about to give up, when a loud sound crashed across the (aside from the sound of the waves as they pulled the Toons down) silent ocean. Their weak, tired eyes flickered upwards, to see a large boat coming close. This strengthened Max's resolve as he made one last effort to reach to the boat, powerfully kicking forwards, throwing back his arm to his less enthusiastic friend, Toon. E. Fish, while Jake weakly swam along too.

Once they were aboard, they spotted a figure that, to them, was the living embodiment of a miracle: their friend, Sheriff Spotty Dynocrash. He looked shocked and horrified at how bad of a condition they were in: they were thoroughly soaked, shaking, and clearly exhausted. They also showed signs of having fought Cogs. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, frozen for a moment.

"Spotty!" Max exclaimed, tiredly. "So good to..." he whispered, stumbling towards him.

"Save your energy," Spotty instructed, and sat Max down. He proceeded to do the same with the other two.

"Stay right there, I'll towel you guys off, you're soaking," he spoke quickly to them, rushing off to find some towels. The three sat in silence, contemplating what had happened. After a moment, Jake spoke up weakly.

"We got lucky," he observed. "I mean, how did Spotty find us? We were almost done for."

Max nodded, shaking. "I was sure that was it."

Toon. E. Fish stayed quiet, and Max wondered what she was thinking about. She barely ever stayed quiet, especially when things like this happened. Her eyes stared in to the deep, bright blue sea, watching waves crash against the boat.

"Toony?" Jake said, concerned. He waved a paw in front of her face. "Hellloooo?"

She turned to him, still thinking. Carefully, she began to speak. "There's a reason we ended up on that island. There has to be. I mean, the maintenance on the trolley – the Cog invasion – it means someone... probably Cogs... wanted us dealt with."

Jake shook his head quickly. "No, no. That isn't possible – what makes us important to get rid of? I mean, we haven't done anything special," he reasoned.

Max chewed on his lip. "There was that weird Cog... the one we destroyed? The one attacking that duck? It took a lot of power to put down."

Jake started to think about it. "You mean they were scared of us, that we could take down a Cog like that?"

"It makes sense," Toony replied. "Maybe those Cogs are really important, and they didn't want us out there to hurt them."

"That must be it," Max muttered.

Toon. E. Fish grinned. "I know what I'm doing, then. When we get back I'm hunting down each and every one of those Cogs and destroying them."

Jake smiled. "Good for you, Toony. I'm just eating as much as I can. I've been given a second chance and it tastes like cheap fast food!" 

Max looked at them both, worried. "Don't you think we should lay low for a while? If those Cogs wanted us out of the way why would they stop after one attempt?"

Before Toon. E. Fish could reply, Spotty appeared with a towel, and started drying them, one by one. "You three. Get some rest. Save your energy, don't talk."

Max shook his head, and smiled weakly. "I feel fine now, Spotty. Thanks, though. How'd you find us?"

Spotty hesitated for a moment. "I found some Cogs. They mentioned some Toons ended up on an island and I pieced it all together... anyway... I don't know, I mean, I think you should rest..."

"No time, Spotty! Take us back! I got some Cog-bustin' to do!" Toon. E. Fish exclaimed excitedly.

"About that," Spotty said thoughtfully, "something big is going on with you three. There are some dangerous Cogs who wanted you out of the picture."

"We figured that out already, and a Toon was involved too. But don't worry, we can take it, I'm sure." Jake re-assured Spotty.

Spotty shook his head. "There's no way you guys are going after those Cogs. I saw them put a good kid in hospital for stumbling across their secret, and he would've been depressed if I didn't help him out. I'm not letting you get in that sort of danger."

Toon. E. Fish got up. "We can do it, Spotty -"

"No! Toon. E. Fish, don't you say another word. What the heck are you trying to do? Are you _trying_ to get yourself depressed? Why is it that you seem to be on this constant crusade to put yourself in harm's way for no reason? You narrowly escaped a hellish island full with Flippy-knows-what and then almost drowned! And you're trying to take on the Cogs that put you in that situation? Do you realise how absolutely _stupid_ that is? Do you even know how it'd make me – or anyone – feel to have to bury you? I watched all of you guys grow up and I _will_ watch you grow up, and if I don't I'll hunt you down and depress you again!" he exploded, furious.

Toon. E. Fish considered what to say, and decided after a moment to say nothing. She was incredibly uncomfortable all of a sudden. She had often noticed, when Spotty thought nobody was looking, a few things that seemed off – a nervous glance at them, a worried expression, a frown or a grimace. If he thought nobody was around, she'd noticed him sigh and sit alone for minutes, a blank and joyless expression worn on his face, before he would slap on a smile, warily get to his feet, and seek out his friends, before they wondered where he'd gone. She'd always been a little curious about this. Was it because of them? Was he afraid of them getting depressed?

Spotty looked away as the others watched him intently in stunned silence. "There's a place you can go and hide, just til we figure this all out. Once we get back to land, I'll get you there. It's geot warm beds and food... you could use a rest," he murmured.

As Sheriff promised, the place he had taken them to did indeed have warm beds and food. It was a small hotel on Loopy Lane, and they seemed to be the only guests. The owner was a quiet, large black cat who seemed distracted with other things. Upon entering, Jake noticed ants and other bugs scuttling around the floor. The lights flickered a little, and the wooden front desk had most of its paint scratched away. The owner, who sprung up upon seeing Spotty, rushed them to their rooms immediately, before Jake could ask about the food.

They had one room each, and all three were identical. They were cramped, each with a single bed, which had tattered, stained sheets that turned a dark orange-brown colour, and a grey carpet with stains and junk lying on it; month-old dishes, soda cans, old, discarded socks and pens. There was a small bedside table with a couple of books that would probably be far too boring to read, and lamps that didn't work. There was a tiny circular window that was absolutely filthy, and you could barely see out of it. Still, Spotty had guaranteed that the owner would keep them hidden. After a while, the owner himself came by to see them individually, and warned them not to contact anyone from inside the hotel, and not leave unless they had someone trusted waiting outside to pick them up, and to ensure they were not followed when they returned to the hotel. Apparently, Spotty had made it clear to the owner that they absolutely could not be found.

That night, as Toon. E. Fish drifted off to sleep, she didn't even notice the Corporate Raider that slipped in to her room, approaching her quietly.


End file.
